I appreciate your positive reports of Human Progress. It's encouraging and refreshing when compared to the constant flood of DOOM and GLOOM from the "Main Stream Media"
It is interesting to read about innovations in various fields. I was surprised, however, that this essay included alarmist phrases such as "a preview of what may come unless we act," ""most of these reserves will be depleted within a century," and "waste crises facing our generation are real and urgent." Perhaps this was targeted toward the general public rather than those who recognize the amazing history of innovation.
J.K. Lundblad : "When we put our minds to it, even “waste” has a purpose."
Yes! Agreed ! ..........The Mafia certainly made a lot of money out of 'disposing of waste' !
Waste today is simply disposing of material we have NOT yet found a use for !
e.g. 'pegmatites': simply discarded after the tin , beryl or tourmaline was taken out of it !
Now it is highly sought-after for the materials it contains like rare metals such as lithium, beryllium, rubidium, and tantalum and other resources like uranium.
Every product we 'manufacture by synthesis' produces chemicals we don't want , but in theory , we could alter the synthesis pathway to produce only the one we want and any other by-products into something else we could also use ! In theory !!
.
"The story of human progress is the story of doing more with less."
No ! I disagree ! It came from recognising the hidden potential and exploiting it regardless !
Steel swords swiftly replaced bronze swords once they encountered one another !
e.g. Millions of tonnes of ore is mined , crushed , treated to yield tiny amounts of material like gold , rare-earths , etc. Huge areas of land are used to grow crops of all kinds and the yield is only a fraction of the total plant-material. e.g. Modern tyres are made of a host of different materials , and latex still plays a part , but other than some use as 'playground surface material' and 'burning tyres for fuel' [ heat] and thus recovering the contained 'hydrocarbon energy' [ petroleum] and the steel reinforcing , they are pretty much waste !
.
"Stretching our energy and atoms further, creating beneficial counter-entropic forms."
You have completely LOST ME THERE ! I need you to put that into simple English please !
Atoms and energy are interchangeable as I understand mass and energy ! Entropy is the natural decay of systems into randomness and disorder as they lose useable thermal energy , and a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics means that certain processes are irreversible !
.
"When we put our minds to it, even “waste” has a purpose."
Yes ! Agreed ! But so far......only a small fraction of it ! [ We should STILL be eating sharks ! ]
These guys at NDSU have enlarged the possibilities but , like most things , the stumbling block remains the COST as opposed to the BENEFIT !
e.g. "We" have squandered $QUILLION$ on combatting "Global Climate Change" [ the term used to provide the UN and other would-be-regulatory-bodies the power to intrude and impose everywhere and anywhere they choose .....and where they can get away with it ! ]
and , as for ALL that SPENDING , it has made NO DIFFERENCE except to PROVE that CO2
IS NOT the CAUSITIVE factor because the CO2 level continues to rise and the temperature has levelled out......so...it turns out to be a natural occurrence after all , awaiting some "proper science" to explain it , cyclical in nature ; and humans have contributed very little to it and have very little to worry about now or in the future !
[ GOD....sorry...William Henry Gates III SAID SO ! We can adapt and "live with it" he said ].
DRUM ROLL : BRING ON Bjorn Lomborg and HIS brilliant better-alternative spending IDEAS [ minus his silly carbon taxes ! ] and Will Shackel with his Nuclear Energy ideas !
Which brings us back nicely to " our energy and atoms" !!!
And DEFUND the UN and WHO and ban the UNRWA and similar disreputable and disruptive agencies !!!.........................Then the human race is in with a "reasonable" chance !
I appreciate your positive reports of Human Progress. It's encouraging and refreshing when compared to the constant flood of DOOM and GLOOM from the "Main Stream Media"
Keep up the good work!
Thank you! :-)
It is interesting to read about innovations in various fields. I was surprised, however, that this essay included alarmist phrases such as "a preview of what may come unless we act," ""most of these reserves will be depleted within a century," and "waste crises facing our generation are real and urgent." Perhaps this was targeted toward the general public rather than those who recognize the amazing history of innovation.
The story of human progress is the story of doing more with less. Stretching our energy and atoms further, creating beneficial counter-entropic forms.
When we put our minds to it, even “waste” has a purpose.
J.K. Lundblad : "When we put our minds to it, even “waste” has a purpose."
Yes! Agreed ! ..........The Mafia certainly made a lot of money out of 'disposing of waste' !
Waste today is simply disposing of material we have NOT yet found a use for !
e.g. 'pegmatites': simply discarded after the tin , beryl or tourmaline was taken out of it !
Now it is highly sought-after for the materials it contains like rare metals such as lithium, beryllium, rubidium, and tantalum and other resources like uranium.
Every product we 'manufacture by synthesis' produces chemicals we don't want , but in theory , we could alter the synthesis pathway to produce only the one we want and any other by-products into something else we could also use ! In theory !!
.
"The story of human progress is the story of doing more with less."
No ! I disagree ! It came from recognising the hidden potential and exploiting it regardless !
Steel swords swiftly replaced bronze swords once they encountered one another !
e.g. Millions of tonnes of ore is mined , crushed , treated to yield tiny amounts of material like gold , rare-earths , etc. Huge areas of land are used to grow crops of all kinds and the yield is only a fraction of the total plant-material. e.g. Modern tyres are made of a host of different materials , and latex still plays a part , but other than some use as 'playground surface material' and 'burning tyres for fuel' [ heat] and thus recovering the contained 'hydrocarbon energy' [ petroleum] and the steel reinforcing , they are pretty much waste !
.
"Stretching our energy and atoms further, creating beneficial counter-entropic forms."
You have completely LOST ME THERE ! I need you to put that into simple English please !
Atoms and energy are interchangeable as I understand mass and energy ! Entropy is the natural decay of systems into randomness and disorder as they lose useable thermal energy , and a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics means that certain processes are irreversible !
.
"When we put our minds to it, even “waste” has a purpose."
Yes ! Agreed ! But so far......only a small fraction of it ! [ We should STILL be eating sharks ! ]
These guys at NDSU have enlarged the possibilities but , like most things , the stumbling block remains the COST as opposed to the BENEFIT !
e.g. "We" have squandered $QUILLION$ on combatting "Global Climate Change" [ the term used to provide the UN and other would-be-regulatory-bodies the power to intrude and impose everywhere and anywhere they choose .....and where they can get away with it ! ]
and , as for ALL that SPENDING , it has made NO DIFFERENCE except to PROVE that CO2
IS NOT the CAUSITIVE factor because the CO2 level continues to rise and the temperature has levelled out......so...it turns out to be a natural occurrence after all , awaiting some "proper science" to explain it , cyclical in nature ; and humans have contributed very little to it and have very little to worry about now or in the future !
[ GOD....sorry...William Henry Gates III SAID SO ! We can adapt and "live with it" he said ].
DRUM ROLL : BRING ON Bjorn Lomborg and HIS brilliant better-alternative spending IDEAS [ minus his silly carbon taxes ! ] and Will Shackel with his Nuclear Energy ideas !
Which brings us back nicely to " our energy and atoms" !!!
And DEFUND the UN and WHO and ban the UNRWA and similar disreputable and disruptive agencies !!!.........................Then the human race is in with a "reasonable" chance !
I do love your heading, "The Optimistic Imperative"